Do Not Disturb
by Punzie the Platypus
Summary: A look into the early stages of Cassian and K-2SO's friendship—Cassian getting Kay into the Rebel Base, fixing him up, and watching him interact with no small amount of sarcasm with an unfiltered C3PO and R2-D2.


**_Soli Deo gloria_**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Star Wars.**

Moments of peace during a time marked by warfare, grief, and turmoil were few and far between. Cassian spent the occasional day between reconnaissance missions alone in his single's apartment. There were several underground floors full of housing units; they weren't exactly home sweet home, except they were. He'd lived in unit S-4 since he was fifteen. It was cold and grey and clinical, except for his workbench. This held all signs of mechanics and machinery as it kept up a grimy, tool-covered appearance at all times.

One such off-day, once he'd relived the horrors of his bloody but successful six-person mission to run interference off one of the Empire's biggest satellite broadcasting stars to Mon Mothma, he made a beeline for his apartment. He hurried through the crowded corridors full of members of the Rebellion rushing to their own jobs. He ran a hand through his hair, slinking against the sides of the halls in order to avoid getting caught in a wolf pack. He didn't say a word to anyone, to all these people he'd lived and worked and fought with for years and years of his hard life. He silently slipped into his own apartment. He punched the button that closed his front door and sighed. He closed his eyes and shook his head. No matter the mission, he came out alive. That didn't mean he always came back whole.

He found relief sitting down and working on an old K-2SO unit. He'd snatched it from an earlier mission. He'd gone to the surface of the satellite star to run on-site surveillance on the Storm Troopers and Imperial officers running the station. An old-fashioned spy mission. He and his partner, a Keth Snooth, were discovered by a KX-series security droid. He'd quickly fried a few key circuits and the droid slumped, sparks leaping from the fallen corpse. Their cover was blown and they had two minutes to get back to their ship. And, for whatever reason, Cassian had given the fallen droid a long, long look and said, "Keth, help me bring this droid on-board!"

"Are you insane? It's an enemy! It's an Imperial spy! What's wrong with you, Cassian? Did _you_ get hit in the head?"

Cassian held up his blaster, huffed. "We've got time. I have an idea." He knew which computer components he'd rendered useless. He knew the droid was helpless—and could be made useful again.

Bail Organa reprimanded him sternly for bringing an enemy droid into the secret rebel base. Mon Mothma, however, showed the insight and patience of a leader listening to one of her team. She allowed Cassian permission to bring the droid onto the base, under several strict conditions. He was to be entirely reprogrammed by Cassian, who assumed sole responsibility for him. Once he was reprogrammed, he would have to help the Rebellion, to pay for all of Cassian's valuable time in reprogramming him.

Cassian agreed to these terms with a serious gravity. He had a single thought, after catching a small tug of a sympathetic smile from Mon Mothma, that maybe the real reason she'd let him work on the droid wasn't to aid the Rebellion—she'd allowed it for _his_ sake. That made him feel vulnerable and _seen_ , and he didn't particularly like it.

He didn't like to face the idea that while being a lone wolf sounded independent, in reality, that wolf was often lonely, and longing for a pack to be a part of.

He found _some_ comfort, as he begrudgingly gave Mon Mothma credit for having seen, in working on K-2SO. All his spare moments, what little few he collected, he drew full advantage of as he used them to fix up that droid. He got him talking again and after draining all of his Imperial programmed thoughts, procedures, and memories into a drive to keep for further research into the way the Empire was run, performed a memory wipe on him. When the droid's glass-covered eyes lit up for the first time and he said, "Where am I? Wait, _who_ am I?" Cassian found himself grinning a little and saying, "Your name is K-2SO, and you are safe."

He'd honed a few mechanical skills working on the rebel base. He garnered advice and all the do's and don'ts from experienced mechanics from years of grating under their tutelage. They were never the nicest people—who could afford to take it easy and be nice and kind when there was the ever-looming threat of the Empire breathing down their necks? but they taught him the tricks of the trade. He learned about electronic systems from fixing up blasted spy ships. He learned how to fix Kay's sparking vocal cords from spending a few days in the droid medical bay. He spent his sweet time on fixing Kay, which was a strange and weird occurrence. Any 'co-worker' of his could've told you that Cassian was quick, alert, always moving forward and never taking his time.

Cassian had never been allowed to cultivate something like 'sentimentality'. It grew on him, though, as he worked on Kay. Once his sparking vocal cords were repaired back to normal, Kay could keep up regular conversation with him. Cassian wasn't the conversational type—words had precious meaning. Just a few could bring down an entire fleet of ships or blast an entire village to the ground. He found himself enjoying the sarcastic, incessant, and observant babble of his droid, though. Sure, it was a personality trait he should, in fact, erase. What kind of a spy could Kay be if he never shut up? Mon Mothma wouldn't see any good use of him and order Cassian to destroy him.

Cassian told him as much.

"Why would she destroy me for just one negative personality trait? I've got a lot more than just _that_. But sure, if that's all the Rebellion sees, why would I want to be part of it anyway?" K-2SO said, folding his arms. His elbows grated together, grime and metal and a little rust.

"Because if you do not fight for this Rebellion, we see no use for you, and I'll have to blast you myself." Cassian said these dark words lightly. He held a sprocket up to the dim white light, looking for any impurities.

"What a sunshiny place I've found myself in. Tell me they let me say what I wanted to when I was on the Empire's side."

Cassian let out a low chuckle. "I would think not."

K-2SO had been informed by Cassian that he used to work for the Empire for two reasons: number one, so when he finally joined him on missions, he wouldn't stop short and say, "Hey, these droids that we're fighting look _exactly_ like me. Like, _exactly_ ," and have an existential identity crisis in the middle of a critical mission. Number two: every time someone passed by his open door, they'd pull a blaster on Kay and be two seconds from shooting him. He had to say in that two-second grace period: "My memory's wiped! I'm not on the side of the Empire!" It gave him the ability to defend himself and not get his circuits instantly fried.

If Cassian was a lone wolf before, he wasn't exactly Mr. Popular for having an enemy droid for a roommate. Sniffs of disapproval were the nicest things people did when they passed by his door. He didn't get many visitors other than messengers asking him to report for duty. Cassian was fine with that. He didn't need visitors. He had Kay.

So one day, as he entered his room with a wave of acknowledgement to Kay ("Didn't get blown up today? I'm awfully proud of you," was K-2SO's cheerful greeting), he didn't like two voices he heard just outside his open doorway. "Oh goodness, R2, isn't that one of the Imperial KX-series security droids? In the heart of our base?"

R2 chirruped in confirmation.

"Oh goodness, Cassian, aren't those the two nosy droids who've never learned how to shut up who like to hang around Senator Organa?" K-2SO said just as sarcastically as could be.

Cassian turned around and tried in vain to hide a little smirk as he removed his heavy jacket and put it up. "I suppose it is," he mused.

"Mr. Andor, what is he doing here? Are you his prisoner? Oh, is the security of this base comprised? Oh, don't shoot us!" C-3PO held his golden arms up in a surrender gesture.

R2-D2 chirruped a couple more times. C-3PO froze for a second before lowering his hands. "Oh. You've been granted special permission to stay here by Mon Mothma?"

"Yes. _Duh._ Please, try to keep updated." If K-S2O had the ability to, he would've rolled his eyes.

"Oh. In that case, welcome to Yavin 4," C-3PO said hospitability.

"Your welcome would've made more sense a month ago, when I actually arrived here," was Kay's lighthearted response.

"A month, you say? I should've found you earlier! R2 and I are always ready to talk to newcomers. I can speak in over 600 languages, so I particularly enjoy conversations with foreign relations." C-3PO kinda just walked in and stood really close to K-2SO, like they were close friends and not new acquaintances with friction between them. R2 just rolled in. Neither asked for permission to step into Cassian's private quarters. Why would they? They were higher-ups with the rebel leaders and were pretty much given free-range of the place. Cassian himself didn't see why Mon Mothma and Senator Organa gave them any thought. They were just two inquisitive droids with the same innate curiosity and inability to shut up as Kay. How important were they, anyway?

"'Foreign relations?' Is that what I'm in the category of? Not 'droid' or 'traitor' or 'defector'? I rather like those last two. Don't they apply well to me, Cassian?"

Cassian chuckled. "Yes, I would say they do."

"Well, technically you're not of this planet or really of this side of the Rebellion, so yes, that is the category you've been filed under," C-3PO said affirmatively.

"Well, I've filed you under the categories of 'Really Annoying' and 'Should Avoid at All Costs'," Kay said. He stood up to his full height. He had to hunch his shoulders, bow his head, and bend at the knees a little just to avoid scraping the ceiling. As a hulking, dark-colored, spite-eyed droid, he caused a little quake of fear in C-3PO's circuits. Which was entirely his point, by the way. Mission accomplished.

"So, um," C-3PO stumbled, "what was it like working for the Empire? I can't imagine what it must've been like, working alongside the forces of Darth Vader! Who could ever do that and live with themselves?"

R2 made a wry noise.

"I can," Kay said. "My mind's been wiped, so I don't know what I did or what they'd ordered me to do. If they were orders running along the lines of taking out Rebellion droids I seriously wish I'd carried out those orders."

"Hey, Kay," Cassian said, putting a hand on his arm. While he didn't care about unfriendly banter, he _did_ care about threatening words that could get carried to the ears of Mon Mothma. C-3PO, after all, worked alongside her and the Senator. "Keep it down. They're consultation droids for the leaders of the Rebellion."

"Oh, so you're important? Forgive me, Your Excellencies," Kay said faux-respectfully, bowing but never losing C-3PO's eyes.

"The sincerity of your apology is appreciated and accepted," C-3PO said cheerfully.

Cassian made an incoherent noise and had to turn his face away. When he'd composed himself, he said, "What is it you're doing down here in the barracks, 3PO? R2? Am I needed in the war room?"

"No. We were, um, just looking for a certain person, needed to deliver a message to him—" C-3PO babbled.

R2-D2 said some noises that made C-3PO say, "R2, hush! If they find out we're bored and need to get away from the incessant talk of war, they'll send us out—you're always getting us kicked out of places—no, it's _your_ mouth that gets us constantly in trouble, not mine—if I didn't hang out with you, who would? You would be left all alone, no friends at all—who's Obi-Wan? I don't know who you're talking about! Honestly, I believe you have a few short circuits—"

During this dialogue between C-3PO and R2-D2's chirps, K-2SO and Cassian exchanged heavily sarcastic, mutual looks.

"So you're just bored and invading people's barracks, or am I getting the entire deal wrong and upside down?" Kay wondered harshly.

C-3PO snapped back from his snapping at R2 and said, "Oh, no, we're here to welcome you to Yavin 4, as per foreign relations policy 304-S24F—"

"You keep changing your story every time you're asked about it. If you're going to lie, at least stick with one that _can_ stick," K-2SO said. He pointed a long, pointy finger at the open exit and said, "That is the _exit_. Do you understand that? Do you know what it's there for?" He spoke with a dumbed-down voice meant to be taken as it was—condescending.

"I _do_ know what a doorway is, um, what is your name?" C-3PO asked curiously.

"My name is 'Go Away' and it's spelled kay-two-ess-ooo," K-2SO said. He now began to push C-3P0 out. R2-D2, not exactly of the friend-abandoning type, followed at a casual pace behind them. Cassian leaned against the wall and watched his droid with those two high-falutin' droids with no small amount of amusement.

"Now, I can see that you two are very busy and have an important mission to attend to for your higher-ups, and I'm very grateful that you took time out of your _very_ busy schedules to come and visit little ol' me," K-2SO said sarcastically. He shoved C-3PO extra hard, so he was propelled across the hall. His golden head made acquaintance with the opposite wall with a surprised, "OOOHH!"

R2 looked and blinked at K-2SO for a moment before beeping and rolling to his friend's side.

"Lovely chatting with you, don't come again," K-2SO said, waving his mechanical fingers, their joints popping, as he pushed the button that shut the door into the wall. He turned back to Cassian, who wore a now-unveiled, unapologetic laugh. "Those two droids make me wish I was bad again just so I could blast them both out of existence," Kay said, shaking his head as he took his seat back on Cassian's workbench.

"They definitely test your patience," Cassian admitted, chuckling.

"Please tell me that I never have to interact with them again. If not, just take that blaster"—pointing to the one in the corner Cassian kept on hand for spur-of-the-moment missions—"and kindly shoot me in the back of the head."

"Nah, you shouldn't have to interact with them much. They're advisers and we're expendables, only occasionally valuable when we have vital intel," Cassian said, the smile disappearing from his face. He took out some tools and opened a panel on the back of Kay's neck.

"Oh, thank goodness. Believe me, I'd rather stick with you than with any droid, any day," K-2SO said confidingly.

"I'd rather stick with you than any flesh and blood, any day," Cassian admitted.

Kay said quietly, "Do you mean that?"

Cassian stopped poking around Kay's metal backbone. He thought it over, and realized it as truth. K-2SO was a droid and officially as much his friend as C3PO was R2-D2's. "Yeah, yeah, I do."

"That's unexpected." Kay would've shrugged if his neck wasn't open. "Cool. So, as friend to friend, can you do me a favor?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Can you put up a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on your door? I can't live here if I have to live with the knowledge that those two droids can waltz in any time they're bored."

Cassian wore a rare smile. "Sure, Kay. I can do that."

 **Thanks for reading! Review?**


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